


Bound by Fate

by SunriseUtopian



Series: At Fate's Design [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Justice League, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-07
Updated: 2017-01-20
Packaged: 2018-02-24 10:50:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2578889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunriseUtopian/pseuds/SunriseUtopian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Robin and a deranged thief stuck in a cycle that won't end. That is until they are forced to work together along with the team to stop The Light. When all the thief wants is to get off of Parol and away from the glorified traffic light. But is unfortunately bound to him by Doctor Fate and is forced into the team for the good of the world. Robin/OC. Slow burn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry about accidently deleting this story. I was trying to post the next chapter and I hit the Delete button. So yea....  
> Anyways it's back and the world is whole again.

Three robberies, four homicides and the Joker who escaped from Arkham Asylum with Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy obsessing over her 'innocent' man eating plants, Mr. Freeze being an avid member of "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club", and the Penguin being a bird obsessed mobster. So…Just a typical night in Gotham. Crouching on the top of Wayne Enterprises was a person clad in all black with a runed hood that covered the figures eyes along with a full domino mask that covered their whole head along with an equally black hood.

As the figure watched the tell tale sign of sirens and the inevitable bat symbol that is barely recognizable in the cloudy, rainy night. As the anonymous character sits leisurely on the top of Wayne Enterprises waiting for the Batmobile to pass in the street that could only lead to the Joker, the figure wonders about the astronomy project that will be do in twelve hours and how to bullshit their way through that class without seeming like a slacker. When the sound of an engine ripping through the darkened streets of Gotham jarred the procrastinator from their thoughts.

'Well I suppose that it's show time.' Was the only thought that crossed the lackadaisical figure before they pulled out a seemingly harmless ipad and took out Wayne Enterprises security cameras and caused the back up generators to lose power for twenty minutes. The figure then set their watch for ten minutes realizing that they were giving themselves far less time than what was actually needed. As the apparent thief made their way into the air ducts to the elevator shaft. The epiphany hit them like a brick to the head. 'I know I can check Wayne Aerospace to see if there is any more new privileged information that can be borrowed and altered for my astronomy project!' The thief's glee was tangible. As the thief made it to the lower levels to obtain the the privileged information as well as the blueprints from alien technology. As the thief continues to scan the databanks for any relevant knowledge. The figure glance down at the stop watch and sighed in annoyance realizing that they don't have enough time to take all of the information and quickly pulls out a flash drive that was so obscenely encrypted, a generous donation from Starlabs made some drastic improvements with a few unpleasant surprises to deter a nosy bat or anyone else unfortunate enough to try and undo the hack.  
As the last of the data is downloaded onto the flash drive the thief glances back at their stop watch as the thief pulled out the iPad to check how fast Wayne enterprises would be back online and groans with slight discontent. 'Well they're working through the virus faster than anticipated but nothing a little black out at Crest Hill can't fix.' As soon as the thief put the codes in for a blackout that would last about two hours surely enough time to get home to a nice cup of earl grey tea.

The reminiscing of the thief's favorite drink was rudely interrupted when voices carried themselves across the vacant basement air.

"Come on Batman, it's not like anyone could actually make it down here and out of Wayne Enterprises within ten minutes. Not even Catwoman's that good." Came the exacerbated voice of Boy Wonder. "And there have been having some really bad storms lately so the power lines could have been damaged to cause the blackout."

'... I knew I shouldn't have taken this dare. Why did I ever think that this was a good idea? Damn Cat Woman to the special Hell!' As the thief thought this as they silently looked for another escape route. The figure glanced up to ceiling where the pipes for water are and notices the space between them. 'Tight fit but better than getting caught' as the thief grabs the iPad and the flash drive and pulls themselves up into the tight space. The thief quietly makes their way to the entrance to the shaft and drops down silently just as the fugitive to be stepped out into the elevator soft footfalls alerted them to the presence rounding around the the corner of a covered vehicle.

'Damn. Why can't I ever get the simple heists like breaking into an old woman's apartment and stealing some priceless family heirloom? Not let's sneak into Wayne Enterprises and see if you can make it out without getting caught.'

Robin who was rounding the corner of covered camouflaged vehicle came to pause at the sound of light feet hitting the ground. Robin paced himself and moved stealthily around the corner only to be met with air. As he checked his surroundings and didn't notice anything out of place he continued on. As soon as Boy Wonder turned another corner and was gone from sight did the thief let out a breathy exhale. 'But too close for comfort. I might of well put a neon sign above my head that said in all capital letters 'HERE I AM!'

The thief once more dropped down from her hiding spot on the covered military vehicle and turned to the suspiciously open elevator doors. As the thief slunk into the elevator to get to the shaft they didn't notice the eyes following them until the elevator doors closed. The thief whirled around only to be caught face to face with Boy Wonder himself. Who pressed the emergency stop button.

Oh...

Well this is awkward…

Very awkward….

The pregnant pause before the inevitable confrontation.

"Well Boy Wonder isn't this an interesting predicament? When I envisioned meeting a sidekick I thought it would be someone with a bit more impressive track record."The thief's voice came out altered thanks to a modified phone card. Though it did little to help in this situation because boy wonder was already moving to corner the thief.

"There's nowhere left to run." Robin pauses briefly then continues in a determined tone. "Return what you took and come quietly."

"Already barking orders at me little bird, do you give all petty criminals this type of welcome or am I just special?" The thief gives him an appraising look and continues in a coquettish tone while their mind was working on an escape route. "You're pretty easy on the eyes birdy, but not easy enough for me to come willingly."

Then the thief took the initiative and struck first as the side kick sputtered out a response. Hard and fast the thief hit the masked side kick in between the ribs then with the the flat of her palm. While the traffic light was recovering from the first assault the thief bruised his vocal cords by using their momentum to fling themselves towards Robin. Robin tried to redirect the sudden force added to him but not before an elbow made sharp and immediate contact with his windpipe. Robin's hands made for his utility belt he was met with air. In his distracted state of mind he failed to notice the thief sneak their hands down to his waist and unlock his utility belt. His befuddlement only lasted so long until he was shoved hard back into the railing of the elevator, he dodged the theifs next attack. While during their spar the thief noticed a looming figure approaching the elevator and grabbed Robin's arm as he tried to hit the thief. The fluid movement of the thief twisting was a sharp contrast to the disgustingly loud sound of an arm being pushed out of its socket. As Robin tried not to yell out in pain the thief brought their hand up and shoved their hand in his mouth to conceal the noise. Waiting for the looming shadow to pass the Thief took out handcuffs from the utility belt and used them to bind Boy Wonders hands to the elevator railing. Robin glared at the masked thief who had one hand on their hip while the other had his utility belt held loosely in the their grasp.

"You know, I honestly thought this would be more entertaining." The thief lets out a wistful sigh contemplating her next move. "I think I'll just take this belt, I mean sure its a bit tacky but I figure fair is fair. After all you did just attempt to arrest me."

The thief who was rummaging through Robins gadgets wasn't paying attention to the bird as he was able to regain his speech, voice hoarse and throat sore from the thieves hit and was asked a three word question.

"Who are you?" Voice soft and hoarse from the rough treatment.

The thief paused in their search and contemplated the question for a few minutes before answering his question but leaving so many more. Before opening the ceiling of the elevator.

"That would be telling darling. Surprises are so much better when you don't see them coming, don't you agree… Of course you agree."

As the thief said that they found the grappling hook from the utility belt.

"Well as much fun as this has been I have a busy night ahead of me and it looks like you are going to be out of commision for a bit little bird. Do try to get some rest you'll need it, if you want to catch me."

When the Thief said this the figure launched the grappling hook into an air vent and shot up into it without looking back leaving behind a stranded robin. As the Thief crawled through the air ducts and up out to the top of Wayne Enterprises they admired the view for little more than a minute before finding the tracking device on the utility belt and placing it on a pigeon. The thief takes one last look out onto the blacked out city before letting themselves fall. As the thief was free falling they couldn't help but think back to Boy Wonder and … admire how loyal he was to his mentor. When an apartment building looked to be a good place to land, the thief shot the grappling hook onto water storage tank on the top of the building and swung over to the building. No One somersaulted to ease some of the impact onto the gravel. As the thief rolled out of their crouched position, the thief rolled their shoulders to relieve some of the tension forming in their neck.

As the thief sprinted across the rooftops thanking her mentor for the vigorous free running training, as No One raced across the rooftops towards a darkened and surprisingly empty alley.   
The thief paused to catch their breath and calm their beating heart. The thief watched as the rats scattered at the sound of a car passing. No One smirked as the headlights couldn't reach their hiding space.

'Little miracles.' mused the thief silently and then proceeded to take out Boy Wonders utility belt. The thief groaned as the Utility belt started to flash red and a soft beeping noise emerged from the tacky belt. As the thief rummaged through her backpack and brought out lock picks and a flashlight she kept her attention focused on getting the second tracker out of the utility belt. As the thief managed to dislodge the tracker from the belt she heard a smooth, sultry voice coming from deeper in the alley.

"Well done kitten. I didn't think that you would actually go through with it. I'm impressed, truly." The owner of the Voice stepped out revealing Catwoman to No One. No One smiled behind their mask and barely stopped themselves from running towards their mentor, partner and their only parental figure. Instead the younger thief pushed themselves off the wall that they were leaning on to walk calmly towards the more experienced thief. As soon as they were within arms reach No One slowed down and stood in front of the cat burglar.

"I suppose I have you to thank for getting Batman off of my back down in the basement vault, huh. Lord knows I can take the little robin but I'm not too keen with testing my luck against Bats." Thief said in a grateful tone their voice still robotic.

Catwoman let out a breathy chuckle at her pupil, content that her ward is still safe.

"I didn't want you to get into a position that you were unable to get out of. So I decided to watch after my little kitten. I am allowed to worry sometimes, besides it has been so long since I've played with a bat." Catwoman had a devious look about her when she referred to Batman, and the younger thief quickly decided that they did not need to know about their guardians, hopefully unplanned (probably not though, Thief fought the urge to shudder violently they really didn't need the nightmares), rendezvous with the masked crusader. The thought of that was making Thief really disturbed and slightly sick.

"Kitten I do believe that its time for us to go back home, after all you do have that astronomy project to work on."

"How did you know about that? I thought I blocked you from my homework page?"

"Kitten don't you remember you left that page open along with the workers shifts at Wayne Enterprises. You may be really good at hacking, not so much from keeping things from me."

Thief just pouted as both of them made their way down to the street and onto the conveniently placed motorcycle. Just as Thief was about to speak Catwoman cut the younger off.

"No you may not drive it. It is a brand new model and I don't want it destroyed before we get back home."

The masked unknown criminal, defeated just crossed their arms and pouted. As Catwoman started the motorcycle Thief climbed on behind her and wrapped their arms around Catwomans lean waist. Thief closed their eyes listening to the purr of the engine, feeling the warmth from her guardian as they rested their head in between her guardian's shoulders silently seeking the comfort that generally helped ease Thief's fatigued mind and body. They traveled in silence before Selina cut the engine and gently shook her back to wake her dosing passenger. As her kitten came to Catwoman pushed off of the bike and sashayed into her apartment complex, Thief following languidly behind their mentor.

When Thief walked into the little apartment and shuffled over to the room that she and Selina shares. As Thief changed out of the 'work outfit', as Selina so fondly refers to their costumes, taking off the Hood and mask that finally lets down her medium length blonde hair and rubbing a hand over her tired emerald green eyes framed by pale white skin, Selina called from the bathroom.

"Charlie don't forget about the astronomy project and more importantly what are you going to do with the information that you got from Wayne Enterprises?"

"Well I'm going to use the information of Wayne Aerospace to use as a reference for the astronomy project and didn't you want the Wayne Tech info. for something or another?"

"Why would I want that? I really have no use for it. I just wanted to see if you could actually complete that dare. Besides you have more use for it than me, kitten."

Charlie stopped rubbing her face and glared at the shut bathroom door, not for the first time wondering what Selina is thinking about, and if she could get away with drugging her. Before she remembers about Robin and the Bat. Charlie calls through the bathroom door.

"Selina what happened to Batman and Robin after we ditched them?"


	2. Caught

The tension was nearly palpable during the ride back in the batmobile. The silent treatment. Great, just fantastic. Dick knew just from the atmosphere just how royally screwed he was. All because he couldn’t get that damned thief, this was the third time that the thief managed to elude his grasp and Dick couldn’t help but wonder how the thief was so prepared throughout all of their encounters. The way the thief moved it reminded the sidekick of water, the fluid movements yet completely unyielding, not to mention the fact that the thief is a dirty cheat. The distinct throbbing in his shoulder was a testament to that along with the lack of a utility belt around his waist. The thief must have been trained for sometime by someone before committing the sting of crimes spanning from Metropolis to Gotham. Yet the connections to the perpetrator were non existent almost as if no one was there at all. The only plausible lead would have been CatWoman if she didn’t disappear right after her confrontation with Batman. He was left leadless and was gaining a migraine if he kept thinking about how his thoughts just went full circle. Dick let out a groan and rubbed a hand over his eyes muttering to himself.

“How do you catch someone who doesn’t exist?”

“With the right bait.”

Dick froze for a minute realizing that he just asked his question out loud and to the only occupant in the car. Before he could ask what kind of bait is need for someone who just enjoys the thrill, (mostly because that was the only thing that the thief always alludes to when they fight), Batman pulled into the Batcave. Alfred per usual awaiting the masked crusaders return with a first aid kit in hand. 

The cool, dark cave was illuminated by the supercomputer that was sitting on a platform right in front of a waterfall. When Batman exited the batmobile he pulled off his crowell, scowl firmly in place as he crossed the threshold to get to the massive computer. 

As Alfred was tending to Dick, Bruce was using the trackers in side of Robin’s utility belt to figure out just where it went, and for it to lead them to the elusive thief who was working with (more likely for) CatWoman. As Bruce went through all of the tracers there was a weak signal at the abandoned appartments and it was moving.

“Alfred stay here and tend to Dick, I need to check on the utility belt that was stolen.” Batman then, replaced his crowell and turned to the batmobile and disappeared without so much as another word into the dark, leaving Dick to the mercy of Alfred.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Charlie let out a frustrated sigh at the information that she gathered from Wayne Enterprises. Typing away at the computer and trying to control the urge to chuck it out of the window astronomy project be damned. ‘You would think that with the word Aerospace in the title of one of the branches of Wayne Enterprises that they would have some information on a solar system. ANY solar system! What am I going to do with rocket ship plans? Present these and say ‘I’m building a rocket ship to the moon!’ because that will go over well... I’m so going to fail this project..’

“Kitten you do know that Aerospace is rockets and space crafts right? So basically, you just did all of that planning and scheming for absolutely no pay off.”  
Charlie turned her head to glare mutinously at her legal guardian, as if her procrastinating on the semester final was all Selina’s fault.

Selina the picture of feline grace pushed off of the door frame to come up behind her increasingly agitated ward. Placing a placating hand on the younger thief Selina looked over Charlie’s shoulder to see how far she got in her essay about how Copernicus was right and everyone else in that time should just do the universe a favor and jump off a damned cliff to discover the only law of gravity. That would have been the most important scientific breakthrough for the time that and a toothbrush, and that was only the first page. 

Selina let out a sigh as Charlie continued to write, debating with herself (not for the first time, mind you) whether or not she should stop her ward from writing anything else that would get her sent to the principal. 

“Charlie, I know you’re upset about the no payoff thing, but you shouldn’t take your frustrations out on your poor teacher. I don’t want the principal calling and telling me that your essay was … not up to par.” 

Charlie turned around in her chair to assess Selina, her soul piercing emerald gaze settled on her mentor as her mind supplied the younger thief with delectable witt to change the course of the conversation. Then with a blinding smile that Charlie directed towards her favorite mentor, Charlie turned back to her computer and brought up the guidlines and “rules” for this particular project. 

Just to prove her point.

“The rules here state that the essay must be at least five thousand words in the American Psychological Association (APA) format and must have to do with what we covered in class. Now I vaguely remember our lovely, charismatic teacher talking about Copernicus and how much he loved him. Further more he did not specify what kind of essay he was expecting thus a fine piece of persuasive/ satirical material is in fact allowed and I will not change it because it is due in three hours and I’m sleep deprived. So there!” 

The only sound emitting from the room with both thieves was the sound of Charlie’s hash breaths as she finished her rant. The determined maniacal glint in her eyes made Selina hesitate before sighing and accepting the fact that her ward was going to go to the principal’s office tomorrow and Selina was going to get the phone call that her ward was causing a disturbance. Charlie was already banned from Chemistry for causing a ‘completely accidental’ explosion.

“Fine Kitten, I’ll clear my morning schedule for that talk with the principal that may or may not happen. But if I do get a call, you’ll be grounded for the rest of the school year. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”

“Crystal.” Charlie’s eyes went from maniacal to mischievous in the span of a few seconds. And Selina couldn’t help but think about how Charlie’s mood swings were giving her a headache and how much Harley owed her. 

“Good. Finish up and then get a nap. Remember, next sunday is Mother’s Day, I expect your entire schedule free for our activities.”

Charlie just gave a noncommittal grunt and turned back to her essay with renewed vigor to actually make it seem like she put thought into her essay instead of BSing it to the extreme.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The alley was a typical Gotham alley. The trash that was littering all around the ammonis dark figure of the Batman and the decaying old food leftovers that even scavengers won’t eat. The darkness a familiar coat to the enigmatic superhero. The elusive vigilante contemplating the whereabouts of the elusive thief that had ties to Catwoman, so it wouldn’t be a far fetch to think that the thief had ties to other criminals as well. Immediately ruling out the more destructive villains such as Joker, Poison Ivy, Bane and so on. Considering all the thief tended to do was incapacitated Robin and steal unique valuables then disappear before he could find the thief who was becoming increasingly frustrating to deal with. 

The dark hero was struck with an epiphany about the thief. The thief was making all of the police go around in circles with leaving no evidence that there was a crime if the jewels weren’t missing. He suddenly felt like the Cyclops from Homer's Odyssey by saying “Nobody blinded me.” The thief was using tactics to get the public off of them by placing the attention on their failure to successfully capture the thief. Which just furthered Catwomans involvement with the thief, both think too similarly for the unknown thief to not be Catwoman’s rising prodigy. 

As the tracker on Batman’s utility belt blinked, briefly glowing a soft red before going black again, he came across a starved, beaten, skittish mutt. The masked hero glanced at the tracking device then back to the abused animal before disabling the tracker. As he walked away from the decrypted alley his mind already forming plans to capture the supposed “Nobody”. And also debating whether the prodigy thief would make a valuable asset to the team or if the thief would sell them out. 

When Batman got to the batmobile his mind already working out how persuade the thief into working with the side of good along with how to catch the illusory thief. 

‘Worst comes to pass there is always Dr. Fate.’ 

With that last thought The Dark Knight sped through the dark damning city that was Gotham and back to the Batcave.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Charlie watched the rising sun from the top of her and Selina’s apartment building, the vibrant and vivacious rays alternating between deep reds and purples to zesty oranges and pinks. Astronomy project finished and probably one of her best works, but that just could be the sleep depravity talking, the blonde found that she couldn’t sleep and not just because the sun was pouring through a crack in her curtains. The thief found that her mind was wandering to the little robin that she encountered the other night. 

‘Well at least he’s getting faster at ducking, if nothing else.’ 

As Charlie’s emerald green eyes surveyed the rising sun her mind lost to the ages. She realized how risky going out and thieving is going to be for her as her mind pondered and plotted all possibilities with an analytical edge. 

Her consensus. 

She.

Was. 

Screwed.

As the full weight of her exploits hit her, Charlie couldn’t help but feel proud of her accomplishments. I mean who steals from Wayne tech. and Star Labs without getting caught!

‘Oh crap. Who steals from Wayne Tech and Star Labs who could be considered even remotely sane?! Not me it seems.’ 

While Charlie was having her mental war game, she failed to notice the looming figure of her favorite guardian. 

“Charlie…. why are you watching the sun rise when you should be sleeping?” Selina’s voice jolted the prodigal thief out of her thoughts. In her hand was a cup of freshly brewed coffee that she knew her ward would want during her class. 

“The real question is Selina is why aren’t you?” The blonde turned her head to give her caretaker a half smile half smirk, before turning her attention back to the sun rise.   
Selina’s calculating eyes stared at her ward before gracefully walking towards the distracted blonde. Selina lowered herself to sit next to her slightly psychotic partner in crime and leaned back against the rough brick wall, that had no protection to avoid people jumping off of it, and quietly sipped her coffee. Eyes of a predator watching the younger with growing interest, when Charlie was quiet she was either ungodly angry or thinking about the Bat’s sidekick, either way it would prove to an interesting few minutes. 

The sound of the rest of Gotham waking up to start their usual boring routines was actually one of Charlie’s favorite sounds the groggy drivers almost crashing into random pedestrians who were paying more attention to their phones than their surroundings. It was a damned miracle that the normal unsuspecting citizens didn’t die from their own stupidity. The fact that they could go about their business without a care in the world unless it directly involved them was… a sort of comfort to the younger thief. The fact that she in theory commit a mass murder and in a few years no one except those involved with it would care. Gotham a place where bad things happen and it's just considered the typical norm.

“Hey Selina, how come Bats never actually takes you to jail?” Charlie broke the peaceful silence with her direct question.  
Selina sipped her coffee obviously in no hurry to answer her ward, as soon as the hot liquid was downed. Selina licked her lips drawing out her answer and building the suspense and curiosity that was practically bubbling from her prodigy.

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to kitten. But try to use your imagination I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” Selina paused and cast Charlie a sultry smirk and watched with great amusement as her ward couldn’t decide whether to turn white as a ghost or a sickly green. Selina watched as Charlie struggled for a moment then stood up, stretched and turned addressing her partner as she walked towards the stairs. “Don’t stay up here too long kitten, you have school soon and I meant it when I told you to get sleep don’t make me come up here again…. Oh and if you think too much on the little bird he just might catch you instead. You know, food for thought.” 

With that Selina disappeared down the stairs and into the apartment building. Charlie stared at the sun rise for a few more minutes before jumping down to the fire escape to her window. Charlie sighed as she layed on her cot and closed her eyes willing her over active mind to quieten. The sun rising a new dawn and time seems to have reset like what happens with every other day. Charlie closed her eyes and welcomed oblivion.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------

The trudge to Gotham Academy should have been an easy one considering all one had to do was board a train and wait two stops before disembarking on a riveting adventure through an academic jungle filled with the 'best' professors in their field and so on. The sheer amount of hypocrisy never ceased to straight up dazzle the up and coming thief.   
Charlie sighed and straightened out her mandatory uniform with a resigned sigh, as she was surrounded by wanna be thugs who had nothing better to do than harass an unsuspecting school girl who had a can of mace being palmed in her hand finger on the lever to release pepper spray concoction. 

‘Morons unaware of the consequences to their actions.’

Charlie continued to ignore the pig headed glorified apes, as she continued to palm her pepper spray. Soon the exit for Gotham Academy came up Charlie slipped past the arguing group of testosterone driven primates to get to the closing doors of the train. Just as the doors closed and the squabbling males noticed the lack of prey and looked up to see Charlie giving them a sarcastic smile and a little finger wave as they were carted off to the trains next destination.

Charlie sighed as she checked her wrist watch and realized that she only had ten minutes to get to her Astronomy class. So Charlie did the next logical thing. 

She ran like hell and ran straight into traffic nearly causing several accidents just to get to class on time. As the gates to Gotham Academy came into view the rapidly sprinting blonde didn’t notice an equally rapidly sprinting ‘Golden Boy’ coming up behind her. Before Charlie could even change course she was slammed into the ground as a brick wall slammed into her from behind just as she passed the threshold of Gotham Academy. 

The wind successfully knocked out of her lungs as her eyes glossed over but no tears escaped the renegade thief. As the pair ended up tumbling down onto the cement, Charlie’s vision cleared a bit as she stared into clear blue eyes of the resident ‘Golden Boy’ himself. Charlie stared at the surprisingly heavy form of Richard Grayson in mild shock. Before mentally shaking her head and trying to wiggle her wrist free from being crushed. 

“You know if you really wanted to talk to me sunshine you could have just asked. Instead of you know, tackling me to the ground.” Charlie still staring into the oddly pretty blue eyes, ‘No, no bad Charlie the feminine blue eyes yes that works.’ 

“Anyways I need to get up and head to class that I’m going to be late to thanks to you. So do me a huge favor and move!” Charlie then began to squirm and thrash under Richard trying to get him off of her. 

“You can’t seriously blame me for running into you. I tried to stop it was an honest mistake I swear. And can you stop moving it makes it harder for me to get off of you, not to mention I’m also about to be late.” Richard was apparently just as annoyed as Charlie was so when Charlie stopped moving and stared defiantly up at Richard the clash between emerald and blue. An irritated scowl that was across the blonde’s face matched the irritated glare that was on Richards. 

“God is this why you stay at the mathletes club? Your astounding lack of social decorum should be a crime, now I’ll one last time. Get. Off.” 

The stare off continued before Richard moved off of the blonde. As he extended his hand to the girl who pushed herself up to a sitting position. Charlie stared at the hand almost as if it would bite her if she took it. 

She brushed the hand off and stood on her own as she gave him one last look before turning towards the Astronomy building. When she noticed foot steps following her, glancing down at her watch she noticed that their little …. rendezvous…. took up more time then she had. So then began the mad dash to the classroom if she was lucky the teacher could be on a binge again. 

As Charlie ran she noticed the steps behind her again keeping pace before a voice called out to her and Charlie couldn’t stop the groan that threatened to slip through. 

“So what class are you heading to? I’m on my way to Astronomy, I don’t think I noticed you in that class.”

‘Just ignore it… it will go away eventually.’ Charlie’s salvation was just through the wooden door at this point she couldn’t have cared less about being late if she tried. 

As Charlie and her shadow entered through the wooden door they both took notice of the prominent lack of a teacher. Charlie breathed a sigh of relief as she turned to one of the nameless students. 

“The teacher didn’t call role did he?”

“Nope you still have about four minutes until class starts.” 

When the teacher returned and called role the day proceeded with almost tear jerking dullness that was the norm if Charlie didn’t feel eyes watching her every move during that class. ‘Why can’t he creep on someone else.’ Then the worst class of all came, Biology. 

As Charlie was napping while seemingly deep in thought about the lecture the Professor was droning on about she didn’t notice that the class was dismissed. As Charlie was about to escape through the crowd of students the teacher called her back along with Richard Grayson. 

‘Oh god… kill me now...’ 

Charlie sighed as she and Richard stood in front of the instructor's desk. Not sparing the golden boy a passing glance. Placing a sickly sweet smile on her face she locked eyes with the teacher, while fighting the sudden feeling of dread building up in her chest. 

“Miss Kyle it has come to my attention that you’re falling behind on some of the material and as a precaution I have conversed with Mr. Grayson here to help get you back up to speed on the subject matter. If you fall behind in this class it is difficult to get that grade back up. So I’m assigning you a study partner to help motivate you.” 

Just like that Charlie’s world started to crumble down around her. Charlie cast a scorching glare to the boy standing not even a foot away from her. 

“I can assure you Professor that this is entirely unnes-”

“-This is definitely necessary I will do my very best to help out a fellow student who needs motivation.”

Charlie stopped and stared mouth agape with shock as the feeling of dread finally seeped in. 

The ignorant instructor just smiled at Richard and then turned to Charlie. “I trust that you two will be able to work together without incident.” 

Charlie gave a tight lipped smile and just nodded her head, wanting this conversation to be done with. With a nod from the teacher both students were released from their captivity for the rest of the day. Charlie always one for taking the initiative left Richard to go to her locker then promptly ditched the golden boy to go home and plan, scheme and plot her next heist.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The darkness that seemed to surround the elusive thief was lifting the more Batman thought about it. With the trap to catch the thief set something that would be impossible for the thief to pass up. The new exhibit in Gotham Museum that is showcasing the Heart Diamond, with some of the best security systems to pose as a challenge that the slippery seemed unable to resist. with both him and Robin on the look out for the thief. 

“Batman what do you mean that the thief could be useful on the team? I really don’t think that she is much of a team player.”  
Robin stared at his mentor whose face was turned towards the security console. Monitoring the museum for any unusual occurrences, the thief may have been able to distract Robin by using some of Selina’s tactics but facing against Batman. Well, that was another matter entirely. 

“Robin, the thief seems to have ties to a lot of criminals, not only that but if this is the same thief that stole cutting edge technology from Star Labs she already has more enemies then she can cope with. If we can persuade her to help the Justice League and give her examples she has the potential to be a valuable asset to the team. Or a powerful adversary should she continue down the path Catwomans laying out for her.”

“I still don’t trust her though she seems to manipulative. Its unsettling how well she seems to know my movements.” 

Batman listened as Robin explained how the thief seemed evaluate the fight faster than Robin. As Robin continued with his explanation Batman noticed one of the security camera’s went dark then the rest switched off simultaneously. Batman left the control room to find the thief, his guess the back up generators the only way to give the thief more time would be to off set one of the fans turning it so that the generators would destroy themselves. 

The resounding explosion caused Batman to scowl and Robin to jump at the loud noise. 

“The thief already made it to the generators. We need to split up all you need to do is hold her off and cut off all possible exits.”

“Understood.”

With that both vigilantes went thief hunting.   
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No One who was done with the back up generators snuck back to the vault where the Heart Diamond would be. As she approached the vault she couldn’t stop and feel as if someone was watching her. Before she could react a syringe found itself embedded in her neck, as she turned her head to see her capture she noticed the mask crowell of Batman. Her feeling impending doom dissolved into nothingness as her vision darkened and she slumped against the masked vigilante. 

Batman gazed down at his ‘package’ and couldn’t stop the feeling that they just kicked the hornets nest, and quietly wondered how upset Selina was going to be. Batman sighed and contacted Robin.

“We got the thief time to take her to the batcave.” 

“Alright.”

Batman placed the thief in the passenger seat with Robin as they drove through the dark Gotham night.


	3. Chapter 3

Consciousness was an essential part of being a thief (and to function as a person, but priorities first). As the elusive feeling of awareness returned to the high as a kite thief, she couldn’t help but notice she was no longer in Kansas and there was a distinct lack of Toto.

    

No One surveyed her holding pen, and noticed that despite being in a glass cage she wasn’t restrained. ‘Someone obviously doesn’t have a lot of experience kidnapping thieves.’ No One stretched and stood up from the bench she was laid across as the drugs were slowly deconstructed in her body. The illusory thief cracked her neck and noticed that her mask was still firmly in place even though the Bats had ample time to remove it along with her utensils that were still there. ‘Maybe he removed it then placed it back?’ Or ya know didn’t bother removing ….it?

    

The thief sighed as she examined her confinement to find some sort of structural weakness in the design of her own personal box. No One sighed and just as she was about to give up she spotted the two horizontal poles on the top of the box as a plan started to form through her head. It was a long shot and honestly one of her more unconventional plans. But a plan is a plan, now how to remove those poles. Checking her bag the elusive thief noticed that the homemade C4 was still exactly where she left it as well as the acetone.

     

Glorious.

     

Positively Glorious.

     

As No One palmed the malleable grey explosive to a more useful form she began to smear the concoction onto the glass in front of her. She failed to notice the security camera’s documenting her every move, and reporting it back to the two masked vigilantes watching as the thief worked.

     

The thief hummed ‘The Spider and the Fly’ as she dabbed the acetone onto the C4 adding a flammable ingredient to the already dangerous chemical. No One let out a slight giggle as she pulled out an computer chip that was programed into her phone that acted as a detonation charge. Which was in her bag with her other useful goodies.

    

Once No One finished her little art project, creating the perfect circle out of C4 with acetone to make it more malleable. The masked thief placed the old computer chip in with the C4 and ducked under the only form of protection the metal bench with her bag of tricks.    

     

Then No One pressed the detonation button and placed her arms around her head and curled into a ball.  

    

The resounding blast banging her arms against the side of the glass case then the floor as the C4 detonated and the Polycarbonate started to melt. No One couldn’t contain the near hysterical laughter that bubbled up from the reaches of body, lips twitching as the super heated plastic started to melt onto the floor as the thief pushed herself out from under the bench and into the rest of her cage. As the acetone and C4 worked wonders on the glass going way above the melting point of the bullet proof glass, No One stopped to examine her work a small smile hidden beneath the black mask. She then proceeded to place a hand in the center of the circle and push the glass out of its place and watch as it crashed onto the floor. With a hand on her hip she pulled herself out of the

      

“Game and set. Lets see if we can get match in there as well Bats.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    

Batman and Robin both watched as the elusive thief made a explosion out of some home made products. Robin payed more attention to the hysterical laughter that sent chills up his spine noticing the way the thieves plan became either the mark of genius or the mark of insanity. The thief seemed to have an affiliation towards the more life threatening avenues of discovery. As the explosion seemed to reach the melting point of the bullet proof glass and the glass had a perfect circle with the thief exiting out of the glass cage.

    

Batman immediately noticing the mess the thief had just made sighed and moved to intervene with Robin to keep the thief contained. Batman moved to the shadows as Robin moved to confront the thief that sauntered out of her holding pen.

     

Head cocked to the side as she considered the little bird, not moving any further as Robin also stopped to stare down the thief. Scowl firmly in place as he considered how to deal with the versatile thief.

     

“You know out of all of my wildest dreams, this one is ranking pretty high on the ‘This will never happen’ list…. I mean seriously if I didn’t know any better then I would assume that I’m in the Batcave.”

      

“How do you know that this isn’t a dream, thief?”

       

“There now you did it. Congrats you just ruined my dream by talking Bird Boy, that is one very impressive skill by the way.”

       

Robin withheld the groan and decided to take a page out of the thieves book and take the initiative.

      

Then Hell officially broke loose.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     

“Oh bother, why must every time I leave someone gets injured?”

      

Alfred sighed as he received no answer from neither the thief nor the little bird. Who were both pouting rather exceptionally.

     

The fight that broke out between No One and Robin was messy to say the least with Robin’s arm still sore giving the thief a brief advantage during their brawl. That is until Robin started using the area of the Batcave to give himself leverage over the normally unpredictable thief. The fight would have continued if Batman, coming out of the shadows, grabbed both of the brawlers by the cape and the back of the neck.

       

And promptly separated them.

       

With both Robin and No One sitting across from each other with Batman and Alfred separating them. No One handcuffed to the observation table, as she and Robin stared the other down neither willing to test Batman nor Alfred by crossing the gap to continue with the brawl. That just seemed like a horrendously bad idea.  

       

“Our guest should be fine with rest, perhaps a bit of anti-inflammatory drugs and a bit of sleep and she should be up to her normal shenanigans in no time. Now if you’ll excuse me I’ll need to prepare dinner.” With that Alfred disappeared through the door leading out of the Batcave and into Wayne manor, leaving mentor and student to watch the capricious thief, examining her surroundings.

      

Batman turned and motioned for Robin to follow him through the doors but keeping the thief supervised by camera’s.

      

“So … still think she’s team material? After she almost killed herself in an asine plan to escape?” Robin asked looking increasingly confused as Batman looking at the two dimensional version of the thief as if she was some mysterious puzzle to be solved. Batman’s mind was elsewhere as he contemplated how well the thief actually did. If she joined the team her brilliance and unpredictableness tempered with their rationality would work in their favor against the less sound of mind opponents.

       

Batman continued to mull over how to make the thief join the team, as he walked away from the medical station and to the giant computer set.

     

“Dick, she just made an escape plan within ten minutes of waking and while it was extreme it worked. She carried around homemade C4 which is extremely volatile while detonating it with little more than an old computer chip and acetone. She then proceeded to escape while taking on an opponent that had a much better understanding of the terrain and still adapted to fit the fight. The fact that she escaped with minimal damage is impressive. She just needs the right initiative to join the team.” Batman looked at his sidekick as Robin continued to stare at the thief.

     

The sidekick stared at the back of the thief seeing the damage that she could deal with. The fact that the thief worked so hard to get out of an unfamiliar place and to any place that would have been considered “safe”. Robin sighed as he silently agreed with his mentor about the thieves potential, but couldn’t help but think of the risks involved.

     

The potential ‘What If’s’.

     

The uncertainty was unsettling as well as terrifying.

     

“Dick get some rest I’ll get Alfred to let you know of any changes with our guest.”

      

Dick sighed but nodded towards his guardian as he trudged up the stairs to his room, to get some rest. Knowing that all hell was going to once again break loose when their ‘Guest’ got out of the handcuffs.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      

Hell which was supposed to break loose, apparently froze over first. As the thief, still with the mask firmly in place, glared daggers at the overgrown bat and was now out of the handcuffs. Luckily the ‘guest’ hasn’t decided to throw objects at the masked hero, yet. The staring contest continued until Robin came down the flight of stairs then the thief broke the contest by turning her glare towards the new arrival. Robin actually making an attempt to not rile up the unstable thief as the moved closer to Batman, with both hands raised in an attempt to be placating.

      

The thief returned to her staring contest with Batman. Shoulders bunched protecting her neck while looking like an extremely pissed off drenched cat. It almost made Dick feel sorry for the unfortunate thief.

      

“You want me to what? Join the rest of the indoctrinated idiots to what exactly? Fight your conceptions of evil?”

      

Almost.

     

The brief pause to before the condescending smirk and a sarcastic articulation. “You’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel to actually want to recruit someone whose occupation is in a direct conflict with yours Batty.”

       

Robin couldn’t stop the snort of agreement coming from himself. “Yea, trust me we know.”

        

The thief turned her attention to  boy wonder and gave a measured look before attempting to ruffle the birds feathers.

       

“How’s the wing little bird? I hope I haven’t clipped them before you run out of cheesy one liners. I mean ‘Stop Thief’ is good and all but kind of repetitive after a while.”

       

The thief mentally pat herself on the back as Robin’s face started to turn red and luckily Batman intervened before another fight could break out in the Batcave.

      

“You have a specific type of skill set that may be useful for the team that is being assembled. If you want to get out of Juvenile hall, with only Parole that could be easily waived by you joining the Young Justice team.”

       

The thief stopped to consider what Batman had said with a slight head tilt. Weighing the Pros and Cons as she went through a mental check list. She considered the possibilities of being able to bargain with the Dark Knight. Before switching her gaze back to Boy Wonder. “And what about you birdie how are you feeling about working with the thief that you couldn’t catch? Does it bother you?”

       

Before Robin could answer however Batman once again intervened to stop a fight that would have most definitely broken out between his sidekick and the argumentative thief, who still lacked a name. “What is your answer thief? Join the Team or Juvenile Hall?”

       

The thief let out a withering sigh as she debated with herself once again before crossing her arms across her chest as she finally let her captive audience know her decision.

        

“Firstly I do have a name other than ‘Thief’, not that that isn’t a positively catchy name or anything, but for the record its No One, if we’re going to be working together we might as well know each other apart from ya know ‘Stop in the name of the law Thief’. Secondly I have a few conditions before I agree to anything if we can come to some kind of agreement then sure I’ll join the Idiots are Us League.”

         

When all No One received were a nod of acquiesce and a glare of death, coming from Batman and Robin respectively. She continued albeit with a doomed feeling in her stomach, but still continued.

        

“Alrighty then, First things first, I’m so not a hero so while everyone will be off ‘cleansing’ the world of hard working entrepreneurs like myself, I shall offer ideas but I won't get involved unless it is absolutely mandatory that they need a thieves perspective. The next thing is I’m a thief guys no amount of ‘community service’ is going to change my outlook and if I see something of use I’m going to liberate it because it’s who I am and who I was raised to be. Lastly if ya’ll haven’t noticed I don’t like to fight, as in it’s not terribly high on my bucket list in fact it isn’t even on my bucket list so while the supposed team is off doing God knows what, I’ll be making life difficult via sabotage and play the support role. Do we have a deal?”    

    

It was quiet before Robin started to snicker at the thieves proposal. "I'm curious as what makes you think that you can bargain-"

    

"-Counter offer: first you go through the same training regime as the rest of the team. We will discuss more in depth about the extent of your thieving when we are able and Lastly you work as an active member of the team. If you do this it will count as your parole unless you want the Gotham PD to know who you are.”  

      

Robin and No One stared open mouth at the Bat as both of their minds tried to process what just happened. The same thought went through both of the youngers minds.

       

Wait.

       

What.

       

The.

       

Hell?

      

“Hold on for just a minute you are actually agreeing with this, Bruce?!” Robin just short of shouting said. No One stopped and stared at Robin then quickly turned her gaze to Batman who sent Robin a reprimanding glare as Robin turned white as a ghost, before turning back to the thief.

       

“Bruce as in Bruce Wayne as in owner of Wayne Enterprises? Oh…. this makes a bit more sense…. Kinda. At least I know why you were so upset” The thief paused and then turned to Robin with a look of dread mixed with intrigue. “Which makes Boy Wonder here Richard Grayson.” then with a sardonic smile No One continued. “Karma is an absolute bitch isn’t she, Boy Blunder.”

      

As No One started to antagonize Robin once again, Batman moved over towards the massive computer right across from the thief as he brought up all of No One’s information, including her ‘secret’ identity. As the bickering died down between the sidekick and the renegade thief, Robin couldn’t help the sly smirk that crossed his face as he overcame his initial shock and turned towards No One.

     

“Well at least I’m not failing Biology. So tell me how is that information you gathered from Wayne Tech. really working for you, study buddy?”

     

The glare versus the sly smirk, in reverse Bruce sighed and removed his mask as he stared at the thief the likeness between Charlie and Selina was unsettling but useful. As the thief groaned and teased his sidekick, he turned back to the computer to collect his thoughts as he let the thief and his sidekick vent their frustrations on each other's.

     

“Guilty as charged little bird. But just so you know stealing information from Wayne Tech. was so not my idea originally, It was the consequence of losing a bet against Catwoman.” No One let out a wistful sigh before continuing “It’s not like you're the only business that I liberate information from, I mean Starlabs has some really impressive new tech. So does LexCorp, I mean not that I’m complaining, but its just weird that all of a sudden advancements that he's making, just getting past all of the basic security measures was an absolute pain in the ass. And to make things worse Luther is an absolute butt munch when it comes to encrypting things. Don’t even get me started on all of the new and improved security measures that I had the honor of discovering. He had lasers and turrets in the main freaking hall, lasers. And no air ducts! Makes you wonder if he's plotting world domination again or preparing for a fight against Superman.... Again.”   

       

Bruce and Dick shared a look as the thief regaled them with her disastrously, successful adventure through Starlabs and her near death experience with discovering LexCorp hospitality. Bruce eyes narrowed in concentration as No One continued to express the sheer amount of dislike she has for Luther, with some pretty creative slurs. The two questions remained however, ‘What type of advancement had Luther made and why did Superman not notice?’

        

Bruce sighed as he rubbed his throbbing temples the more information the thief divulged the more questions remained unanswered. The obvious lack of attention that was paid to the thief while in Metropolis was beginning to become an annoyance. But for the thief that was probably a blessing until a couple minutes ago when she told them. The thief paused and stared at Bruce, emerald eyes calculating before she gave a shit-eating grin and cocked her head at him. “You know I do have to get home before curfew is enforced, so I’ll agree to join the poor souls that you indoctrinated and so on and so forth, if you actually keep your end of the deal Bats. But I really want to know what your second condition is unless you haven’t thought about it, surprise me. I just need a ride back home because I have no idea where I am other than the elusive Batcave.”

      

Bruce looked at Charlie and considered his options, he could take her back to Selina or he could take her to Mount Justice for Dr. Fate to bind her to someone who could keep tabs on the thief. Deciding not to piss off Selina seemed to be a more prominent option considering Dr. Fate could be at the watch tower or with his daughter.

    

With an abrupt jerk of his head Bruce consented to drive the minor back to Selina. He needed to discuss Charlie’s newly found employment with the League, and make sure Catwoman wouldn’t interfere with her prodigies growth.

     

As the master of the mansion maneuvered himself towards the entrance to his extravagant home, he looked back to see Dick engaging the thief in conversation and silently hoped that it wouldn’t come to blows yet again. The bickering continued up the stairs and through the house, the closer they got to the entrance the more asinine the topics became.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     

The ride back to Selina’s apartment was awkward to say the very least. With Charlie wide awake in the passenger seat as Bruce drove down the winding streets towards the heavily populated city. The silence through the first half of the ride was mildly expected with Charlie glued to the window watching how the road disappeared into the cryptic and dark woods, before the inevitable channel surfing and button pushing.

     

Right as the small hand reached for the shiny red button, a bigger hand swallowed the smaller wrist. “Don’t. Touch.” with a meaningful glare to put incentive behind the two words, directed towards the thief. The silence lasted all but thirty seconds before Charlie decided to break the ice before the next ice age hit the car.

     

“You know, you should never say ‘Don’t Touch’. Its like saying ‘Don’t Press the red button’ it's a total invitation to press all of the buttons not just the red one.” Charlie completed this explanation with hand movements to boot. Before another glare was cast her direction, prompting her to give an exaggerated eye roll in return.

      

Back to brief silence.

      

A fidget.

      

Then a sigh.

       

Hands moving back to the radio listening to some random pop song that sounds like the last hundred of thousands. Charlie sighed and pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on top of the dark fabric of Dick's sweat pants, a generous donation to the less fortunate, as she gazed out of the front windshield watching the dangerously deadly concrete jungle approach.  

      

Watching as the road proliferated as the sports car drove past the various business district and towards the waiting apartment complexes. The nauseating feeling of doom settled right in the pit of Charlie’s stomach as they passed street after street, corner after corner. ‘Welp I’m definitely grounded for the rest of my natural life. Unless I get Selina a Mother’s Day present… But what could I give her...’ Glancing around the automobile for things of unique value and coming up with blanks, Charlie let out a huff and glared at Bruce Wayne.

     

A slow dangerous smile began to overtake the blonde’s face as she regarded the billionaire. Mind already forming different ideas to get out of trouble, but also add some sense of closure for her dearest, darlingest, mommy. She turned her head, shit-eating grin firmly in place as they grew closer and closer to her lovely abode.

    

The graceful figure of Selina leaning against the brick wall of the apartment complex looking like she was about to start nuking the entire city. Eyes narrowed at the sports car that pulled up to a stop in front of her. Not even the slightest bit surprised that Charlie popped out of the passenger seat with the shit-eating-grin of all grins but when faced with the glare of her legal guardian she placed both hands up in the air in surrender when faced with the fierce glare.

      

“Hey Selina, I know that I’m late, however I got you your Mother’s Day present.” With a dramatic wave of her arms she gestured towards Bruce. Selina eyes already pinning Bruce to where he was, without breaking eye contact with Bruce the cat burglar addressed her ward.

      

“Kitten what did I say about taking home strays?" Selina turned her piercing eyes from the billionaire with a vendetta complex towards her ward with psychotic tendencies.

      

“That they bring home fleas and it’s and I quote ‘It takes someone with the patiences of a saint to deal with our Landlord because he has a stick a mile bleeping long shoved so far up his Bleep, that it is impairing his already fragile cognitive thought process.” Charlie gave Selina a dazzling smile before “Did I get it all?”  Before Selina could correct the blonde she was rudely cut off by her wayward ward.

       

“Anywho I’m gonna head up to bed long day ahead of me tomorrow and I’m sure you and Brucey here have a lot to talk about. Enjoy your Mother’s Day present Selina.”

       

And Charlie took off like the devil himself was on her heals. The last thing she heard was Selina’s voice slipping through the door and bouncing off of the walls like a rubber ball that someone threw too hard. “You are still grounded Charlie!”

      

Charlie paused and looked back at her mentor before she awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck and came back down the stairs with a strained smile. "Yea about that..... Brucey here will tell you all about it." With a mock salute to the billionaire extraordinaire before she resumed the mad dash up the flight of stairs.

     

There was probably more to Selina's speech but the ward was already bounding up the stairs taking three at a time leaping over recyclables that was left out in the hall. Just as she bounded up the last section, her apartment just in sight her foot missed the last step. The stumble she took to regain her footing was anything but graceful and all of its synonyms.

     

The sarcastic clapping caught Charlie’s attention as she whipped her head over to the source of the disturbance. The jagged ebony black hair, the green ripped kimono, and the unsettling grinning cat mask.

     

Cheshire.

     

Charlie sighed as she leaned up against the door leading to her sanctuary. Mentally weighing pros and cons in her head as she stared at the assassin.

      

Con: She could die within the next two minutes and Selina won’t be able to get her out of this mess.

       

Pro: If she did die at least it would be over quick Cheshire does have some sense of honor. Kind of.

       

Con: She was tired and dealing with an assassin who-really-needed-to-get-laid was at the very bottom of her bucket list tonight.

        

Pro: Cheshire never came here unless to talk about something. Something really big and really important.

     

‘Why the hell not I’m already in trouble not much more Selina can do to me.’ Charlie gazed at  the assassin with poorly disguised intrigue before she sighed turned and opened the door leading into the apartment. With her back turned as Charlie searched for coffee through her sparse cabinets wondering just where Selina hid the delicious caffeinated beverage. The virtually soundless foot steps alerted the thief towards the presence roaming around her humble abode, thumbing objects of interest before placing them back and when Charlie couldn’t keep her curiosity at bay any longer she confronted the member of League of Shadows while still facing the window.

      

“You know Chesh if you wanted to see me so badly you could have just called. You know like a normal person.” Charlie exhaled as she got no response from Cheshire. “Hun, I’m already in a bad mood I don’t need you to add to it. And the whole Assassin’s Creed thing stopped being intimidating within the first twenty seconds.”      

      

Charlie glared out of the window in front of her seeing Bruce’s car drive off with Selina, probably to unwrap her gift. Charlie shuddered briefly before resigning herself to the fact that Jade wasn’t going to leave and if she pushed the issue things would escalate into a fight. Something that Charlie wasn’t in the mood for especially after that heist went south and landed her with a permanent shadow starting tomorrow. Charlie leisurely turned around (if she looked on edge Jade would try to exploit like any criminal worth their salt) and crossed her arms over her chest as she regarded Jade with a cool calculated gaze, not at all surprised at the cool metal of one of her blades pressing insistently into Charlie’s neck.

    

With Jades grey metallic eyes glaring holes into Charlie. Her Cheshire Cat mask removed revealing the livid grey eyes the slight trembling of the lower lip as the corners of Jade’s lips were pulled back in a silent snarl. Four words gritted out of a clenched jaw as she turned molten pools of silver towards condescending emeralds.  

   

“You. Set. Me. Up.”

    

Charlie arched her neck in a vain effort to stop the uncomfortable pressure of cold steel against her neck hands dropping from her chest to the unoccupied counter behind her. Eyebrow arched in challenge as a smirk began to pull at the corner of her lip, head tilted in acknowledgment about the set up.

     

“And you were sent to kill me, you can’t seriously blame me for having a contingency plan. Look on the bright side the League was happy that one of their information brokers lived and I’m happy that I got the information that had some value. It’s always good to have backup plans in case that they have some prevalence in the future. Especially when dealing with fickle assassin’s like your precious league.” As Charlie was talking keeping Jade’s attention solely focussed on her words and not on her body language. She palmed the counter for the ceramic cup that was somewhere on the counter that seemed to be a mile long.

      

Cheshire scoffed at that. "It was just business, nothing personal."

     

"I'm sorry, but I find attempted murder on my life to be very personal. But hey I may just be defective."

      

Cheshire glared venomously at the deceptively sweet thief a cold smile gracing her lips as she pressed the metal of the blade even further against Charlie's neck. "I wouldn't be antagonizing me further Charlie. After all I am the one with the sword."

       

The positively wicked smile that Jade received from the thief was all of the warning that she had before Charlie grabbed her dominant hand and twisted until the disgusting sound of bone being ripped from ligament. The cry that escaped Jade was more of shock at the fluid movement of the attack. When the sword dropped gracelessly from Jade’s hand and clashed hard onto the floor Charlie kicked it out of the way and towards herself. Charlie then gripped the ceramic cup and smashed it into the dislocated shoulder.

      

When Jade crashed into the floor Charlie had the sword in hand and straddled the pained assassin. Charlie pressed the cool metallic surface of the blade into Jade’s neck right over her Carotid Artery.

     

Jade who was beginning to thrash around until the feeling of her own sword being pressed into her neck made her still. Jade was about to yell at the thief until she noticed the difference in her captors eyes. Gone was the cocky playful smugness and was replaced with detached, calculating intrigue, like the look a biologist would get when cutting open a frog. The unsettling grin that belied all good intentions, and promised painful endings if resisted. Jade’s blood froze as she listened to the cadence of Charlie’s voice the ice mixed with acid. The type of tone Charlie used when she was in one particular mood, the mood that never ended well for anyone involved.

     

“Now since you obviously didn’t hear me when I told you the first time.” A brief unnerving pause as Charlie tilted her head to the side demented smile still firmly in place. “I’ll reiterate it for you. I am not in a charitable mood. So you get one last chance to quit screwing around and acting  like I killed your beloved  sister, and listen very carefully because the next time I get attacked in my own house by you. I’ll have you tied up and delivered to Killer Croc for food. Do I make myself clear?” Charlie’s voice didn’t raise much past a coarse whisper but what she lacked in volume was made up for in facial features.

      

Containing her unease was second nature for Jade, being an assassin does have it perks. However seeing the killer instinct in Charlie’s usually deviously harmless eyes was sending warning bells after warning bells through the ebony haired teens head. With a nod of acquiesce to the thief’s demands the cool metal was immediately removed as Charlie gracefully stood. Gently laying the sword down on the kitchen counter and offering Jade a hand with a slightly apologetic smile, Charlie helped pull Jade to her feet as she stared at the floor face paling as her words and actions finally caught up to her.

      

Jade watched as Charlie’s mouth opened and closed a few times and Jade couldn’t stop the snort that escaped from her, before throwing Charlie the proverbial bone.

      

“Does Selena still have that black coffee that I liked so much?”

      

Not the most graceful topic change but it was enough to get Charlie to stop looking so ashamed of herself and back to the normal playfully sarcastic nature that was just so Charlie. With a bright grin that had Jade shaking her head and giving an encouraging nod to go get the coffee Charlie all but skipped over to the cabinet to retrieve the ‘hidden’ coffee.

       

The startling shift in mood that seemed to occur with the thief always confused Jade. How someone who so obviously had a killers instinct restricted themselves towards just petty theft, was a testament to Selina. Jade understood it to a degree with her sense of duty and what not but the thief seemed to have a very fickle ‘honor among thieves’ thing going on. Jade was kicked out of her pondering as Charlie walked towards her one cup of coffee and one cup of hot chocolate in her hands.

        

They sat on the well loved couch in a comfortable silence, the calmness more for Charlie’s benefit than Jade’s since Jade was used to the threat of death lingering around every dark corner that she goes into. Jade glanced at Charlie noting the slight shaking of her hands as she took a sip of the hot dark liquid flowing down her throat, the bob of the muscles of Charlie’s neck moving to swallow the concoction. Already knowing that Charlie was having hot chocolate instead of coffee, one of Selina’s rules more than likely. Jade took a long, slow sip of her own beverage as she waited for Charlie to begin the conversation. When Charlie finally seemed to work up the courage to tell Jade about the outcome her ill fated heist.

      

Charlie debated for a few more seconds before deciding to come clean to the only person in her age range that she could relate to (she was using the term age range very lightly). “So I got caught by Batman.”

      

Alright not the best way to start this conversation, but she really didn’t have a lot of other options at this point so band aid method it is. “And the only way my identity remains anonymous is if I join the Kiddie Brigade. You know the one your sister is on.” Charlie flinched and closed her eyes waiting for the inevitable scolding, but when none came within the first minute and a half Charlie hesitantly opened one eye to stare at Jade.

       

Jade had an unreadable look on her face as she stared at Charlie. Before a small nod in acceptance was received and Charlie let out a breath of air that she didn’t even realise that she was holding. Jade’s verbal response made Charlie suck in another breath as she made eye contact with Jade. “Don’t let them change who you are, it would make for one bad story if you stopped thieving. Your identity is the one thing that will always stay with you whether you like it or not. And be very careful not to break any of Selina’s precious rules as entertaining as it is to fight you when you have snapped, I doubt the kiddie brigade would agree.” After a brief pause Jade looked at Charlie eyes serious. “Do me one favor though and ... watch after Artemis for me. I know I won’t be there for her but she deserves more than what I can offer.”  

      

Charlie looked shocked as Jade looked away and out towards the window lost in her own thoughts of the past could have beens, and Charlie couldn’t stop the small smile from taking over her face as she launched herself at Jade and wrapped her arms around her waist. Charlie was literally vibrating with uncontained joy as she released Jade who looked more at ease now that Charlie was off of her. “I knew you had a heart somewhere deep down in that cold-hearted-killeriness!” Jade scoffed lightly at that before wincing as she moved her damaged shoulder.

      

Charlie sighed as she unraveled herself from the couch and jerked her head towards her room. When she was sure that Jade was following behind she rummaged through the boxes under her bed. With a squawk of triumph Charlie pulled out a seemingly random box as Jade sat down on her bed eyebrow raised in silent question. Her only response was a small smile and “A generous donation from StarLabs.” Jade chuckled at the implications before settling down as Charlie placed the box on the bed and retrieved something that looked like an iPad but semi transparent. Charlie brought the unnamed device up to Jade’s shoulder and watched as it created a three dimensional replica of Jade’s shoulder seeing what how much damage was caused to her shoulder. Charlie let out a breath of relief as the damage indicated wasn’t serious just minor and should heal just fine for the assassin. When Charlie nodded to Jade that she was good, Jade gave a curt nod before looking at the clock.

      

“Isn’t past your bedtime kid? Wouldn’t want Selina coming back and seeing you up especially after you told her about ‘forsaking crime’ for the good of all mankind.” Jade said this with a smirk on her face as she made her way out of Charlie’s bed room to grab her mask. As she placed on the mask and turned towards the window to leave she was stopped by Charlie.

       

“Hey Chesh…. I just wanted to tell you that I’ll look after Artemis for you…. and you know about-

       

“-Don’t say anything to sentimental kid. We have reputations to keep. But do me a favor and stay alive I don’t want to have to disobey orders just to save your sorry ass.”  With that Cheshire disappeared into the dark Gotham night as Charlie sighed and closed the window behind her and whispered to herself.

     

"Yea" with a resigned sigh Charlie continued "Appearances to keep, or destroy."

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    

Selina was shaking with barely contained ire as she was confined to the classy sports car. Glaring out of the windshield lip twitching up into a sneer throughout the entire ride to a diner just out of Gotham. The repeating tap of claw like fingernails tapping against the pitch black leather upholstery.

    

The street light turned red as the sleek sportscar slowed to a stop Bruce turned his head to Selina not at all surprised with the picture of a severely upset mother. When the light turned green and they continued the trek towards the hole-in-the-wall diner the tension tangible. When reached the diner and the sports car pulled up to a complete stop Selina just short of bolted from the car.

    

Yea Selina is definitely in the process of raising Charlie.

     

Sauntering away from the car head held high as she walked into the vacant diner. Just as she was about to open the glass and metal door she turned her head towards Bruce, who was just exiting the car face a careful mask with an eyebrow raised at Selina’s raised hackles. Eyes cold and suspiciously distrusting of his motives for taking her prodige hostage without telling her.

     

When Bruce was taking his sweet time Selina went to get a table at the unsurprisingly empty restaurant. Taking a seat in an empty booth Selina waited for her companion to join her as she stared out the window nails clicking against the polyglass table liner, as her bat made his way leisurely towards her.

     

Brushing off the master cat-burglar's brusque attitude towards him as she pointedly ignored him until he sat down. Glaring at the seated billionaire with as much ferocity as possible, she waited for him to make his move.

    

"Who are Charlie's actual parents?" Giving Selina too much room to maneuver around a question just leads to more questions and no answers. But a direct approach .... Well that was a fifty-fifty chance but still better than the former.

     

Selina froze for a second the let out a scoff.

     

"You mean to tell me that you have spent how long in my wards company, and you haven't placed that psychotic laugh that terrifying intellect?" Selina couldn't stop the mirthless laughter bubbling up from her throat. "My job is to keep Charlie grounded to be her rock. Bruce who do you think her parents are? I'll give you three guesses."

      

The look on Selina's face made him pause in his investigation the weariness etched into the deepest crevices of Selina’s being. The weight of her confession and the realization behind it.

      

The Joker. Harley Quinn.

      

But how did Selina gain guardianship over Charlie?

      

As if answering Bruce's unspoken question Selina divulged a precarious secret.

     

“Harley spent the majority of her pregnancy in Arkham, as I’m sure you're aware of, but when she and Red showed up at my doorstep practically begging me to take the infant and in a stroke of misplaced compassion I did. Harley knew that the Father would kill both of them so to save Charlie, or herself depending on how you look at it, she gave her up to me. I can keep her focussed on less destructive avenues and to keep her head down incase of instances like the one she is in now." Selina sighed as she looked lost in thought as a small smile began to pull at the corners of her lips.  The first unguarded expression of the night.

     

The silence that followed was a comfortable one. Selina with a soft smile gracing her lips as she stared out in space. Bruce was silently mulling over what Selina had told him. As quickly as the smile that had graced her features it disappeared just as quickly. Eyes serious as she regarded the billionaire.

    

"My ward isn't the most stable she has some terrifying moods. Since you have her your identity you should know that she doesn't care. Unless there is profit involved." Selina paused and gave Bruce a meaningful look. "I'm only saying this because you need to have another plan, Charlie is too much like her father to not exploit this. I know my ward probably better than she knows herself so she will either decide that your alter-ego isn't worth discussing with anyone or she will think that it is the most amazing thing ever and this information needs to be broadcasted everywhere."

       

Bruce looked at Selina in confusion, mind racing as he stared at the master burglar. Before a soft smile reached his calloused face eyes softening. "I have seen her pull one of her moods with me. I have an idea as to what would work with her however." He waited for Selina to relax enough to tell her. "I plan to have her and Robin to be placed together in a bond of sorts courtesy of Dr. Fate. In an effort to keep her from causing too much damage and to have Robin keep a steady eye on her so that she can't tell."

      

Selina stared incredulous at Bruce before a small chuckle escaped her lips. Shaking her dark head she looked at Bruce before giving voice to her thoughts. "Are you planning their wedding already Bruce? With the way you go on about your … plans…. Should I be concerned?”

      

With the serious look that she received from the billionaire Selina’s newly found mirth disappeared. The solemn look in his eyes giving the thief pause and a chance  for him to speak his peace.

    

“Selina there is a storm coming and Charlie just scraped the tip of the iceberg with her botched attempt at Lex-Corp. She made herself priority number one, other than Superman.” The brief pause before Bruce continued the gravity of what he was saying hitting home with Selina. “If the people who I suspect are in control then the last several missions were nothing but distractions to keep us away from their main goal.”

      

“Which is what Bruce? World domination? We all know how this song and dance go. So forgive me if I’m not impressed.”

    

Bruce leaned in close to Selina and whispered one name that made the color in Selina’s face turn whiter than snow. “Vandal Savage.” As he leaned back he watched as Selina schooled her face in an impassive facade. Before she stared long and hard at Bruce. “We aren’t talking about world domination, that comes later, we’re talking about the destruction of half of the planet including the Justice League and anyone who is in their way.”  

     

“That still doesn’t answer why you need or even want Charlie. Depending on her mood she might not even be of any use to you or the team.”

     

“The team needs a new perspective, and Charlie can provide it. Her tactical mind can help out the team without directly getting involved.” Bruce paused letting Selina process this. “Selina this is the best for all parties involved. Charlie can finally find out what she wants to do instead of being forced into something that was all she has ever known.”

     

Selina ground her teeth together as she stared at him the hypocrisy that was going on was getting ridiculous. "You preach about Charlie having a choice, about her turning a new leaf yet the choice you gave her was turn a new leaf or go to prison. How is that giving her a choice?"

     

"It's all of the choice that she needs, Selina she has already agreed to it."

     

With a final glare Selina turned from Bruce towards the empty streets of Gotham. Before whispering "There really isn't anything that I can do is there?"  The resulting silence from her companion was all of the answer that she needed. Selina chewed on her bottom lip as she sighed and gave a jerky nod of acceptance. Before turning her head eyes cold with grim determination. "Charlie is **mine**. My ward, my apprentice, mine. I'm only letting you borrow her. If she gets killed on one of your suicide missions I will not be pleased. I still expect her to have her schedule free for Mother's Day."  

    

With a nod to the waitress to signal that they were ready to order. The waitress shuffled over exhaustion prevalent over her face as she jotted down both orders of coffee and with a smile turned and left.

     

The "date" then proceeded as normally as it could given the circumstances.

    

With Selina and Bruce engaged in an epic battle of wills.

    

When they entered the sleek new car Selina made quick work of moving over the gear shift and straddled Bruce's lap.

    

A sultry smirk and anger seemingly forgotten for now, Selina's hand moved from his outer thigh and down to the seat recliner and used the combined weight of both herself and Bruce to push it down into a laying position. Her other hand drawing random patterns across his chest before having them press slowly harder and harder into the thin silk button up shirt and into his skin. Before moving up and into his hair.

     

Eyes dark with lust Bruce rested his hands on Selina's slim hips. Retracting her hands from their previous tasks to grab the wandering hand and pin them next to Bruce's head and leaned down to whisper in his ear.

      

"I do believe that you are my present Bruce. Not the other way around."

       

After that there was nothing gentle about that affair,not that there was anything gentle to begin with.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    

With the ride back to Selina's apartment was far more comfortable than the one to the diner. Selina preening over the scratch marks she left on Bruce's arms and down his back. The Cheshire grin that she was sporting and pleased glint in her eye as they neared was difficult to miss. Before she exited the vehicle she turned and with a sultry smirk leaned over to whisper to Bruce. Barely a few seconds later she turned gracefully stood from the low car and sauntered into her complex. Leaving behind a beautiful sportscar and an extravagant man.

     

When she walked into her apartment the first thing she noticed was the broken ceramic mug that had pieces littered across the floor.

    

A sign if a fight as she edged closer into the kitchen she noticed from the corner of her eye the movement of another person in her apartment on her couch.

   

And it was just her ward.

   

God Damnit Charlie.

   

Raking a hand through her tousled short black hair Selina put down the ceramic cup that she didn't know that she was holding onto the counter.

   

Drool escaping from Charlie's mouth and creating a small puddle of saliva that her cheek was resting in. Bits of hair joining into the melting pot of a bad hair day.

    

Gorgeous. Simply beautiful.

   

'And this is my genius prodigy.'

    

A small smile playing at Selina's lips before grabbing a sticky note from a near by desk and writing a message across it. Moving some of Charlie's hair out of her spit and sticking the note across her forehead Selina gently brushed her wards hair out as well as humanly possible before leaving to her bedroom.

   

After all she did have a few social calls to make.


	4. Chapter 4

When Charlie awoke the next morning with a sluggish mind and a sticky note taped to her forehead she was predictably very confused. Quickly looking at the wall clock over her head she focused her blurry vision on the merging numbers before giving up. Stumbling her way into the kitchen area of the apartment she blindly groped around for a clean mug to make herself tea. Rubbing away the sleep Charlie realised that she still had a sticky note on her forehead.

**‘Going out. Don’t wait up.’**

Well then. 

Charlie sighed mildly upset that she wasn’t invited to the little outing that Selina had planned. As the blurriness faded from her sight she looked at the clock that she could now see. 

Half past five. 

Wonderful she missed the sunrise, Charlie exhaled loudly and prepared herself for her little shadow absentmindedly wondering if she would have to deal with him through her school life. She walked over to the hallway bathroom to get ready for the school day, silently cursing whoever decided to make school start at seven in the morning. 

The morning proceed as usual for the maybe thief. 

Procrastinating until she only had ten minutes to get to class. Just as she was about to bolt out of the door and into the streets to make the mad dash for her first period class a knock sounded from the door. 

Charlie just nearly ripped the door off of its hinges as she attempted to run out the door and crashed into Dick. Causing him to lose his center of gravity and fall in a tangle web of limbs and onto the hardwood flooring of the hallway. With the positions reversed from the disastrous colliding that happened at Gotham Academy,Charlie landed on top of the Golden Boy of Gotham.

Groaning as she pushed herself up so she was now straddling him she looked down and was greeted with a roguish smile from the boy she had pinned under her. 

“You know Charlie if you wanted to talk to me you could have  _ just _ asked.”

Charlie glared at the adolescent pinned under her, her gold hair falling like a curtain over her shoulders. Fighting down the blush she cocked her head to the side, before smirking right back at Dick. “Birdy, I don’t need to straddle you to get your attention.” 

Just like that Charlie pressed her hands on the floor by Dick’s head and pushed off of him. With the self-satisfied smirk still in place, she pulled her hair into a messy bun waiting as Golden boy pushed himself off of the ground and into a standing position in front of the maybe thief. That's when she took notice of the normal street cloths that her own personal shadow was wearing. Arms crossed she thought about the date. 

Saturday. 

Charlie put in a valiant effort to fight down a blush that threatened to overtake her face as the embarrassment made an even more spirited attempt to ruin her prestigious reputation as a devil-may-care entrepreneur. Raking a hand through the wisps of hair that refused to be bound the thief sighed thinking about how her good day was rapidly dissolving and (praying to any and  _ every _ god/deity that she knew of, Cersei couldn't still be mad could she?) that it wouldn’t deteriorate into the day from hell itself. Before a hand waving in front of her face demanded her attention. 

“You zoned on me Charlie, I know that you don’t have Saturday school. So what’s up with the uniform?”

Charlie glared at the amused expression on Dick’s face before rolling her eyes. 

“If you  _ must _ know.” Charlie paused mind racing to think of  _ something _ that will help her get out of embarrassing herself in front of her shadow. "It's a science experiment, to test the reflex of drivers by-”   

Charlie was rudely cut off with a hand pressing against her mouth to shut her up. Glaring into the covered eyes of her least favorite person, she noticed the thudding of heavy boots down the stairs. Quickly dragging herself from her thoughts she grabbed Dick's arm and pulled him through the open door to her apartment. Closing it she slumped against the hard wood panellings, eyes closed as she counted the footsteps that grew nearer and nearer. 

"What was tha-"

Dick didn't even get to finish his sentence before Charlie grabbed a fist full of his shirt and brought his head down to hers. Both pairs of eyes open and locked onto the other. One vibrant emerald and the other a sparkling sapphire. Dick's eyes open in shock and Charlie's narrowed as she continued to count. 

One, one thousand.

Two, one thousand.

Three, one thousand.

The steps paused right outside her door for a few brief moments then continued down the stairs. Charlie was once again pulled from her thoughts as a hand came up and brushed through her hair as the other found its place on her hip. And brought her flush against the mathlete. 

Well this didn't go as planned.

Crap.

Charlie brought her hands to rest against the lean chest and shoved.  _ Hard.  _ Dick stumbled back and into the side of the couch as Charlie crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her head to the side; face unreadable as her mind whirled. She assessed the equally flushed teen standing across from her, eyes calculative the blonde mentally sighed. 

"Alright bird boy I'll bite. What do you want?" 

Dick stared incredulous at the thief. The muscle in his jaw twitching sporadically as he fought the urge to shake the blonde. To make matters worse she seemed completely nonplussed like she didn't just instigate a kiss between them. Dick shook his head as he regained control over his thoughts. "I'll tell you but first things first what was that just then?" 

Charlie raised a fine eyebrow as an amused expression settled on her face. "I believe that is called a kiss. I didn't hit your head in any of our fights too hard did I?" A patronising smirk played at the corners of her lips. A cat closing in on the unfortunate canary.

Dick glared at the thief dodging his question. The suddenness of the shifting moods was already wearing of the vigilante in training. 

"Quit dodging the question. Why did you kiss me?"

A glare met the amused condescending look from the blond as she took pleasure in his discomfort. Arms crossed to mimic the distressed bird she answered the question with another question. 

"As I said before it was just a kiss however what I'm curious about is why you returned it." Knowing that she had him Charlie let out a careless shrug as she moved around him. "When you have an answer to that I'll answer yours. Deal?" 

Another glare from Dick caused Charlie to roll her eyes at him. Before deciding that being in the same room as him was having a disastrous effect on her higher cognitive thought process. 

‘I hope he doesn't break anything while he throws his tantrum.' 

Brusquely turning on the balls of her feet Charlie made her way towards the window in her room. Carelessly calling over her shoulder to the frustrated vigilante wanna-be. 

"Look  _ dear _ do what you want. Follow me around if that strikes your fancy. But don't, I mean  _ don't  _ think that I'll humor you." Charlie paused in her escape before turning around and planting her hands on her hips. Eyelids lowered as she stared at him through her eyelashes. "Tell me what it is that you wanted to tell me so badly so that we can both go back to our mutually beneficial relationship of despising and hating each other."

The silence resonated throughout the small apartment. With the brief pregnant pause Charlie began to wonder if she really through the bird for a spin. 

When Dick still seemed to be lost in lala land (or stuck in the funny farm; which she would have to give her condolences to Bats on picking a defective apprentice). Charlie rolled her eyes in exasperation and prowled towards the little vigilante. When she was within in range she raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms expectantly at the bird. Charlie cocked her head to the side when her  _ house guest _ still hadn’t responded. 

Quickly losing her already fleeting amusement towards her unfortunate stal- _ Shadow _ , the thief let out an annoyed huff as her guest stayed in a sense of deep concentration. 

Huffing in irritation the blonde decided with the utmost certainty that  _ this time _ she will make it to the quiet sanctuary of her room and away from the brooder. 

Brooding might be contagious after all. 

When she emerged from her solitary sanctuary in jeans tucked into faded and worn combat boots. While black hoodie doned her torso and her hands covered with her gloves. The black mask that she normally wore on her _excursions_ was safely tucked in the pouch pocket of the jacket. 

Eyebrow raised at the form sitting on  _ her _ couch with his ankle crossed over his knee. Her hands shoved in the deep hoodie pockets clenching her black mask, she waited. 

Silently making her way from the entrance to where Bird-boy was sitting. His hand occupied with a small picture of her and Selina. 

Eyes narrowed Charlie made quick work of ripping the picture from the palms of her house guest. Holding the frame close to her chest as if it was the most precious commodity in the world; she glared poisonous daggers at the almost vigilante. Lips pulled up in an ugly sneer she put distance between them. 

Quickly moving behind the kitchen counter, Charlie gingerly placed the framed picture on the counter as Dick moved to occupy the space opposite of the thief. 

Hands raised in silent surrender to the thief, in hopes of placating her. Curiosity piqued Dick tried to make his appearance less threatening towards her.

"I didn't know that you and Selina had that type of relationship? What's that picture of?" 

Charlie stopped sneering and cocked her head to the side. Confusion evident as she processed the questions. Licking chapped lips as she remembered pouring rain, desolate lonely tents, even worse performers. Selina in shorts and a tank top and Charlie in similar attire, because the weather man lied.

_ Circus tents stretching towards the sky with idle hopes of reaching the stars, before they are tore down never achieving their dream. The combination of frigid rain that beats against the tents with the anger of Thor's hammer. The laughter from inside the tent as clowns ran about making jokes, throwing pies at some unlucky audience members. The bright vibrant colors the reds that were too bright to see the stains of accidents long since hidden. The illustrious golds fading and fading into dull lifeless yellows matching the equally lifeless eyes of the acrobats that fell from the tenuous height, and hit the ground with a splat. Red liquid escaping from its fleshy prison and seeping into the only remotely dry patch of dirt.  _

__

_ The sounds of laughter and joy form as an irreplaceable mockery to the deteriorating wails of terrified screams that echoed throughout the clearing. Arms circling around her waist as she was hauled up into the chest of her guardian. A sense of much need protection from the cold corruption on the outskirts of Gotham.  _

__

_ Nowhere can be called safe. _

__

_ Arms wrapped tightly around the elegant neck as a head of blonde hair hid away from the escalating panic and into the salty wetness.  _

__

_ Silence. _

__

_ Jostled, tumbling out of the protective cradle and onto slushy, thick paste like mud. Littered with sharp rocks, broken beer bottles and rusted nails.  _

__

_ Sharp pain exploding through the blonde's palms looking down to see a rusted nail pierced through the center of her right palm. Deep gashes and bruises forming across the tiny body. Blood mixing with mud, becoming ingrained in the gashes. The soft grunt of pain coming from Selina as the person who rammed into them extended to his full height.  _

__

_ Face half turned towards her covered in white chalk paint slowly sliding along the grooves of his face colliding and merging with cerulean blues and inferno reds. His hands were vigorously shaking holding a small switchblade mumbling about how sorry he was. Slowly, meticulously making his way to Selina his goal suddenly clear.  _

__

_ Someone was sobbing.  _

__

_ Who was sobbing?  _

__

_ Looking down Charlie sees the lonely clown with that single rusted nail protruding out from the back of his head. Sprawled face down against the thick mud. Right hand spouting blood through the gaping hole, her left hand cradling the right against her chest. Hands trembling Charlie stared at the brown eyes, covered in thick white paste,once alight with the mockery of happiness at the beginning of the night begin to fade and morph into the eyes of the deceased.  _

__

_ Dead like the eyes of the acrobat.  _

-lie."

Ripping herself from the memory, Charlie turned her eyes to her guest that was still there. 

"Charlie?" Dick moved from his original position towards the thief careful about not antagonizing the blonde. "Are you okay?" 

Looking at the wannabe vigilante Charlie gave an uneasy smirk. "Just thinking of more .... Interesting endeavors." 

Dick picked up the little portrait seeing the blinding smile on a younger Charlie's' face and a self satisfied look on Selina's. Quickly realizing that she didn't want to talk about that picture Dick changed the topic. "So do you like clowns? You seem to enjoy humor, from all of those clown movies you have."  

Charlie barely suppressed a shudder of revulsion at the thought. She didn’t manage to keep the incredulous look off of her face however. “No. God  _ NO. _ They’re really,  _ really _ creepy.” Charlie took a moment to gather her frazzled thoughts away from faces whose smiles are far too large and practical jokes leave  _ much _ to be desired. The blaring horns in eardrums. The makeup that just needs all kinds of help. 

Dick’s confusion over the subject was palpable with the stacks upon stacks of DVDs and collectible items all generated around clowns. Charlie watched as her guest tried to sort through all of the confusion of her humble abode. Much to her amusement. 

“Then why keep all of those recordings? If you hate clowns so much, why not get rid of them?” 

Charlie let out a sigh hand rubbing the back of her exposed neck and really looked at her shadow of the day. “Look, a friend of mine gave them to me. Thought it was a funny gag or something like that. The amount of it congregated until voila. Lots and lots of random DVDs that I will  _ never _ look at for more than a few minutes, because of the covers.” 

“Why would your friend give you something you absolutely hate? Charlie that doesn’t make any sense.” 

Charlie gave Dick a small genuine smile, eyes growing softer at his confusion. “My friends are a lot different from your’s. While your’s are all sunshine and unicorns, from my perspective don’t get to red darling you might bust a blood vessel, mine compete to see which one can off me first. There is an established pecking order, and I’m the wild card.” At his horrified look Charlie cocked her head to the side and continued. “But when push comes to shove I  _ know _ that they will come to help me, their favorite unpredictable wild card. There’ll just be a very large casualty rate.” Charlie let out a soft laugh. “They may be sociopaths, the lot of ‘em. But they’re  _ my  _ sociopaths.”

“Anyways let's not play my side is better than your’s, mostly because I don’t actually have one. But now that we had that heartfelt conversation let's get down to why you are here because you  _ still _ haven’t answered me yet. Should I be concerned about it?” 

Dick sighed quickly realizing that he was fighting a losing battle, when dealing with the elusive thief. Gazing at the thief he still couldn’t believe that Bruce thought that this was a good idea, he was just waiting for the damage control to step in when they told the rest of the team.

“Alright do you have your suit? You’re going to need it when we get there.”

Eyes narrowed and eyebrow raised Charlie glared at the sidekick. Suspicion rising as he made his way to the front door of her apartment. “And where exactly is  _ there? _ ” But he was already descending down the stairs of the complex. 

Charlie withheld the scream of frustration directed at the damn bird. Pacing for a few minutes she groaned pulled up her hood and raced after him. Praying for any and all Gods to smite the bird.

When she caught up to him she wasn’t at all surprised to see the car parked at the entrance of her apartment. 

The rich egotistical bastard.

 

      XXXXX

The creaking and groaning of metal worn with age and exposed to the harsh climate conditions of Gotham. Selina prowled through the abandoned junk yard, which seemed to have an ongoing battle between nature versus civilization. 

Vines of some plant, most likely poisonous given the vile, repugnant smell of decaying corpses. Gotta love Gotham. 

Stealthily avoiding the poor idiots that were caught by the creepy voodoo shit that Ivy seemed to be so damn fond of. Selina made it across the tops of broken cars quickly and quietly dispatching the "guards", slowly making her way to the decaying house. The slithering roots tracking the cat burglars path along the sides of cars moving slowly with the effectiveness and skill of a hunter. 

 

Breathing in the putrid stench of decaying flesh Selina jumped through the conveniently open window. ‘Seems Ivy was expecting me tonight.’ 

Gracefully landing within the building, Selina looked around for the biggest plant, that she could find. Hoping that Ivy would be inside of it. But as luck would have it was one of her voodoo boyfriends. 

 

Ivy really needed to get laid. 

 

Floorboards creaking with the added weight to the termite infested wood as Selina stalked her way through the building. Suspicion raising at the absence of hypnotized guards caution raising as she rolled her shoulders listening. Her stride slowing as she made her way from the room she was into the proverbial snake pit. 

 

Wind banging vehemently against the archaic wooden frame of the shelter. The sound of groaning of the deluded lovesick zombified goons of Ivy. The subtly shifting of roots pushing through the walls overtaking the room, slowly but surely slithering their way towards the cat burglar with malicious intent. 

 

Before coiling around the leather clad boot of Selina’s costume and  _ squeezed.  _ Yanking her feet out from under her, Selina’s face smacked against the splintered fragile wood. With the impact causing the fragile decrepit wood gave way as the roots holding the master thief hostage receded to let her fall. 

 

Colliding with the compacted dirt, Selina pushed herself onto her feet crouching low to the ground. Hand reaching to rub at her nose, blood spilling from her nose to her lips coating them with the sticky, metallic liquid. Purple bruise blossoming along her cheekbone from the impact. 

 

Sneering into her palm Selina fisted the dirt in her claws as her eyes narrowed. With fluid grace Selina rose to her feet as blood still dripping in steady streams over her upper lip and lower lip, sliding down the peak of her chin and falling and being absorbed into the dirt. 

 

“Come on out Red, We need to talk.” 

 

The flower in front of Selina opened to reveal the red haired poisonous beauty. Plant textured hips swayed as Poison Ivy sauntered her way towards the cat burglar. The plant fanatic glared at Catwoman, sneer marrying her exotic features. 

 

“I can guarantee  _ you,  _ that we have  _ nothing _ to speak about.”

 

Ivy turned her back towards Selina deeming this conversation over. 

 

“Oh really? And if I said Charlie needed your help? Would you really let  _ your _ godchild die as some sort of martyr, knowing that there was a way to prevent it? I wonder what Harley would think of that, letting her only child, sired by the man she loves, be condemned to a fate worse than death knowing you could have stopped it. And considering you are her  _ best friend. _ Isinit sad that the one who would break the news to poor Harely, is Batman. A complete stranger to her.” Selina let out a resigned sigh and cocked her head to the side an eyebrow raised challenging Ivy, to deny her words.

 

Ivy froze head jerking around to glare at Selina, the fierceness in her light green eyes. Lips pulling into a sneer as she reevaluated her guest. Her vines swaying gently, ready to strike at a moments notice if given the slightest provocation.

 

“Fine. I'll give her a vaccine for my most deadly poison, but it's only for Charlie and I want to administer the dosage to her  _ personally.” _

 

Selina closed her eyes and counted to ten in her head. 

 

“Deal, however she will be with me the  _ entire time. _ And when the vaccine is administered we  _ will  _ be leaving. Charlie is  _ mine,  _ Ivy, not yours and Harley gave up guardianship to me. If you hurt her in  _ any _ way shape or form, there is nothing in this world that will stop me from hunting you down and putting you down like a rabid dog. Do I make myself clear?” 

 

Selina’s voice never raised but the underlying steel in her dulcet tones carried over to the plant fanatic in a way yelling never would. The two villains stared at each other, both waiting for the other to break. The tension released somewhat when Poison Ivy gave a brief nod of her head.

 

Selina gave a quirk of her lips. 

 

“So  _ glad,  _ we came to this mutually beneficial arrangement _ ,  _ I hope you have a lovely time with your plants Ivy. See you soon.”

 

Selina ducked as several vines tried removing her head from her neck. The enraged snarl that reverberated along the walls was enough of a warning along with Ivy’s ending shriek. 

 

“ _ Leave!” _

 

It is always good revisiting old friends.

 


End file.
